So sorry for the delay!

So I guess moving delayed sharing my creations with all of you a lot more than I expected. For that I am sorry! But I am going to start posting a lot more I promise! A lot has happened since my last post, and for one I decided to become a consultant for Close To My Heart. It has really been a blast! I just love having the gatherings because we get to have the very much needed "Mom/friend Talk Time"! It is so fun to see some of my friends and catch up on girl talk once a month! That is really why I started all of this in the first place!

Anyway, I just want to share with you what we made last month! It all turned out so great!

All of this is done with the "Boom-di-ada" Level 2 Paper Packet,

The My Acrylix stamp of the month for August "It's Your Day,"

And the Hollyhock, Barn Red and Olive Stamp sets, (and added embellishments:)

These are the different cards we made. I love this stamp set! Birthday cards are always needed around my house, and I think these ones turned out pretty cute!

And the scrapbook pages! This Paper Packet was perfect for some summer pics I needed to put together!

And last, but definitely not least, my FAVORITE part of the night....

I call it my "Explosion box" because you take off the lid and an explosion of pictures are inside. I obviously need to put pictures inside, but you get the idea! It is so fun to make cool things like this too! If anyone wants to know how this is done, let me know and I will post a short tutorial!!

Fun To Make and Give...

So here is my latest creation! I was really quite surprised that it turned out as cute as it did.

My sister-in-law is prego and going to have a baby like any minute now, and I wanted a cute blanket, but not the same old thing. So I came up with this. 

Here is what you need;

-Half yard of Fleece

-Matching Yarn {I actually used two different colors for around the stars too, but you don't have to}

- Two different colors of Matching Felt {Make sure it is machine washable}

-Scissors

-Needles big enough for yarn

-Paper

Just 4 easy steps to follow below...

1. Start by going around the blanket with a Blanket Stitch. If you're not sure how to do this, I found a great tutorial to learn how on YouTube.

2. Cut out a pattern on white paper of the shape you want to embellish your blanket with. Then take the white paper pattern and trace it onto the felt, cut it out.

3. Now just like you did on the blanket, do the same stitch around the stars to give them an adorable finished look. 

4. Then stitch around the stars just going through the fleece and the stitch on the stars, so you won't see a stitch on the actual star itself. Mine definitely is NOT perfect, but I think it looks pretty good for a first time job!

Good Luck!

Mmmm....Tasty, tasty!

I know they don't look like anything super special, but they are!
So I decided I would let you in on a little secret. One of the BEST and easiest peanut butter cookie recipes ever!

I'm telling you, if you like peanut butter and chocolate together, these cookies are just for you. 

I made them for my hubby to take to a church thing, and everyone there was begging him for the recipe. They are divine!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffle Cookies

1 c. Peanut Butter

1 c. Brown Sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 c. Chocolate Chips {Milk Chocolate is best}

See how easy... hardly anything to them, I bet you already have everything to make them!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix all ingredients together. 

Bake in oven for about 9 min. on light cookie sheet, and about 7 min. on dark, or until golden brown.

Leave on cookie sheet for 5 min. to cool.

Beware though, you will need a glass of milk with these!

And a big thanks to my sister, Cassandra, for giving me the recipe a few years back!

A Little Spring Cleaning ;)

Whether we like it or not, it's Spring Cleaning time again!

Especially since we are moving again, I see a lot of Spring Cleaning in my future :( All well, let's just get it over with. Then we can get back to the chic and crafty ways of life!

But I have some fun ideas to help with the mundane task.

First, I found a great article on Organization at HGTV's website.

There is a lot to read and go through so I will just give you some highlights that I appreciated.

One thing they pointed out is to make sure your picture displays are neat and orderly.

 

If there is one thing that will make your house look cluttered, it is too much chaos on your walls. 

Here is kind of a clever idea...

Paint bricks and stack them to display your picture frames on. {Sorry the pic is kind of blurry}

And as for the Kitchen...

Start small...

 

Tackle all those unused recipes you have. Throw them out if you haven't used them in a few years. Or do what I do, and store recipes on your computer. Doing this takes away ALL the clutter, and they are easy to keep organized.

And on to the bathroom...

If you are like me in any way, your bathroom is cluttered with hair product and other hair odds and ends. The article suggested buying a plastic tub to put everything in. But before you just start piling it all in there, evaluate what you really use. Donate all that you don't absolutely need to a friend or center. That way you can just pull out the tub when you are doing your hair, and just put the whole thing back when you are done. Great idea I definitely need to do!

So if you want to catch the entire article click here.

Second, I found a great place called Tip Junkie. 

She has a whole list of wonderful ideas. 

But what I like the most is her great Organization posts. Click here for those.

Tip Junkie also is having a great giveaway right now for Mother's day, so be sure to head over and enter to win!

And as for the cleaning part, my tip is to try and think green. Look around your home to see what you can use to clean. For example, try....

   1pt. White Vinegar to 1 pt. Water 

This is great to clean windows with. 

Rubbing Alcohol is great for mirrors too. 

Try to only use paper towels when it is absolutely needed. Maybe we can save a tree or two!

Good Luck with the spring cleaning and hopefully you will find something to help get you going!

Let me know what great tips you have for me, because I know I could sure use some help!

That New Dress Time of Year

I LOVE this time of year.

The sun.

The beautiful weather.

The flowers.

The bright colors people wear.

The green trees and grass.

And last but definitely not least...

Shopping for a new Spring/Easter dress.

So I was searching around on the internet trying to find some great spring/summer fashions and I found some great outfits at the Gucci store online. hehe like I will ever be able to afford it, but I can keep dreaming right?

I really want this dress, I hear cool blues are really in this season, and I think this is just adorable. It's just a mere $1395 for the dress. But did you check out the shoes? Here is a closer look...

They make me all giddy inside {I know a little dorky, but true}, and these are only $895! 

I love this orange color too. Maybe I will try to be brave enough to try something like this on.

I know this isn't a dress, but I just love this style for Spring. The white pants with a great jean jacket, scarf and the sunglasses. Need I say more?

Well, I am off to find one more in my price category.... hehe, but in the mean time I will keep dreaming!

Did you get a spring dress already?? Tell me how your shopping trip went in the comments, and where you found it, I might need some help since I can't just go into the Gucci shop and tell them what I want!

TTYL

Easter Time...

Let's begin with I don't want to put any of my political views on here...

Michelle Obama is looked at as becoming a fashion icon, and yes I am wondering what her and their two girls, will be wearing for one of the biggest, and most reported Easter events in the country. The White House Easter Egg Roll of 2009. 

Her choice of dresses, and inauguration outfits, hasn't pleased me too much so far, but maybe this is where I will become a fan. I don't know, I guess we will just have to see. 

I want to go, just to get these. The White House Easter Egg Party Gifts. I am a sucker for great party gifts, and these would be awesome to have. Maybe we could make our own....

Another site I love is House of three. There are some fun ideas, or things you can buy at her site for Easter gifts. 

And as for Martha, well she has some fun, out of the box Easter centerpieces, nameplates, and much more. 

But if you aren't up for feeling crafty, or you don't want to spend any money here are a few sites for you...

- Easter Fun, lots of games, printables, and even a spot where you can decorate an egg, and print it out. Looks like hours of fun

-Kaboose, many more fun ideas and games

Have fun and have a Happy Easter!

Here I go... this is something I have been thinking of doing for a long time. I am really excited to have a creative outlet! I just need to have a place where I can share the things I have been thinking in my A.D.D. mind and the things that I have been conjuring up out of nothing!

Now I am young and not experienced, but that will be the fun in this blog. We will discover and create new things together!

So for starters...

I needed a cute gift for a baby shower and as I was contemplating on what to make {because homemade is so much more fun to give} I remembered an idea I had seen a while ago that I had tucked in the back of that old brain of mine. I decided it needed to be brought back to life. Here it is...

In case you're not sure, this was made out of a baby formula tin. I just love how it turned out, and so did the expectant mother.

Then for the inside, I rolled up some adorable girlie onesies and put them inside. Of course I put tissue paper around them just in case there was any formula left in the tin. 

{The beautiful blanket I put with the tin was made by my mom, and I will do a tutorial later on how to make them!}

So what you'll need...

-Baby formula tin

-3 different colors of patterned or bold scrapbook paper {I've used cardstock and regular, and the cardstock works a lot better for this particular project}   

- glue {I just used my scrapbooking adhesive}

-scissors

- your cricut machine and the "New Arrival" cartridge

- stamps, stickers, ribbon, buttons and anything else you want to decorate it with

And what is really great about this is you can use any extra paper you have to make a card to match your gift. Which I did, but of course I didn't get a pic of it either time. Of course!

So a week after I made the first one I had another baby shower to go to. So I made a cute boy one. I just love the fun colors. 

Anyways, it is really fun to do, and will definitely be the hit of any party you give them at! 

But also think outside the box on this one. You could make them for your own children to put toys in, like cars or blocks and these would definitely be cuter to adorn your shelves than tupperware any day!

Hopefully you like them, feel free to leave comments and feedback!

These are a few of my favorite things...

I figured I should let you know what makes me smile so you would start getting to know the crafter behind the blog. Hopefully you like what I've had on my mind lately, and this is just the beginning, I will definitely have more to come.

Inspiration..... 

Definitely one of my guilty pleasures is watching Gossip Girl. But one of the reasons I love watching it so much is because of the style on there. It is all about the uptown girls that have it all. But all I really want is their head pieces that constantly adorn their pretty little heads!

Here are just a few examples. Blair successfully pulls them off almost every episode.

I'm sure that soon enough I will make up a tutorial to go with this little obsession of mine!

Next is all things Martha...

Okay, well not ALL things, but the larger majority is inspiring. I love her website, I love her products, and I love watching her show. I know, a bit old school, but what can I say, I do get a lot of inspiration from her show and website. 

My favorite thing that came from her in the last week are these adorable Easter eggs. If I were to decorate eggs this year, this is definitely what I would do.

Go here for instructions to DIY!

Next is food...

I know what you are thinking... food isn't crafty, what is she doing? But have you ever been to the website of Bakerella? 

Well if you haven't go NOW. And if you have, you know how baking can be a creative outlet, and so much fun. So I would like to share all of the fun I have doing that, to hopefully give you some ideas of your own!

Here are some pictures to tease you about the delicious treats I learned how to make from Bakerella's blog....

A little caution... yes, they are way more divine than they look!

Hopefully you like where I am getting all this creativity that is bubbling inside of me ready to come out. If not, keep checking back, because I am sure there will come something that will!